Praised by critics across the nation,
The Graves of Academe is Richard Mitchell's angry and brilliant
tour through America's bloated public school system--whose mangled,
self-serving language and policies would make Orwell wince. Stamped
with vintage Mitchell wit and laced with stinging examples from
The Underground Grammarian, The Graves of Academe pinpoints
the historic sources of the mind-boggling "educationist"
bureaucracy and reveals why today's schools are riddled not only
with illiterate students but with illiterate teachers and administrators
as well.

"Richard Mitchell has done
it again. He has loosed his noble lance of hate, fury and wit against
the malignant stupidities that infest the world of education. .
. . His book should be read by everyone who detests stupidity and
who admires that rare virtue called common sense." --Howard
Fast

"The Grave of Academe
is a book of the highest importance. . . a slashing and irrefutable
attack, not on teachers, but on the educational establishment that
trains them--and which has trained us. . . . Mr. Mitchell is invaluable.
Also--he's enormously entertaining." --Clifton Fadiman

"This is one of those books
that seem to make such eminent common sense that you feel compelled
to read aloud selected passages to those within hearing--regardless
of whether they want to listen." --Dallas Times Herald

"…makes H. L. Mencken
sound like a waffler." --Time

"Mitchell is a brilliant stylist,
a shrewd observer and a genuine wit." --National Review

"…a delightful satirical book
on that malaise of the American educational system, ‘the professional
educator,' the people who, in the eyes of the author, Richard Mitchell,
are responsible for the deplorable state of American English. .
. . Amen and hallelujah, this is fine reading." --Charleston
Evening Post

"This angry, witty, and very
accurate assessment of the current educational scene should be required
reading for every parent who has or will have children in what Mitchell
calls ‘The Great Dismal Swamp' of public education." --Fresno
Bee

Foreword"Clear
language engenders clear thought, and clear thought is the most important
benefit of education."

Propositions Three and Seven "It was Jefferson's
dream that that civilization could best perpetuate itself in which
the citizens were 'educated,' whatever he meant by that, and we do
have some clue as to what he meant."

The End of the String "It
seemed to me that those teacher-trainers must be amiable and playful
folk with well-developed aesthetic sensibilities and a penchant for
drama, in bold contrast to the rest of us who taught what you call
'subjects,' dour and narrow people reciting lectures and devising
'thought' questions."

The Wundter of It All "There
is no counting the doctorates in education that have been awarded
to those who have done nothing more than tabulate the answers to questionnaires.
That such degrees are so common, however, is not only because the
work is easy, bad enough, but also because the supposed objects of
study often cannot be known directly. When they can, in fact, they
are obviously trivial. "

The Seven Deadly Principles "After
sober and judicious consideration, and weighing one thing against
another in the interests of reasonable compromise, H. L. Mencken concluded
that a startling and dramatic improvement in American education required
only that we hang all the professors and burn down the schools. His
uncharacteristically moderate proposal was not adopted."

The Principles March On "It
is fascinating, of course, to hear those who operate the schools argue
that because there are people who can build aircraft for profit and
cite law in their own cause we may conclude that the schools have
actually provided too much "excellence." What is even more
fascinating is that this bewildering and ignorant line of reasoning
should find, apparently, no detractors among the vast membership of
the National Education Association..."

The Pygmies Revenge "Peter's
well-known Principle was obviously discovered by a man who knew nothing
at all about schools. In schools it just isn't true that the people
who can actually do their jobs get promoted until they find themselves,
at last and forever, in the jobs they can't do. This is because the
most difficult and demanding jobs in education are what industry calls
"entry-level positions," teaching in classrooms."

Problem-Solving in the Content Area
"The problems and disorders in education have become more and
more visible in the last few years, of course, and even the ordinary
citizen who happens to have no children in the schools suspects that
something is very wrong, but he will never understand exactly whatis wrong until he realizes that all our educational problems and
disorders, none of which are new, although they aremore
obvious, provide endless and growing employment for the people who
made them."

Every Three Second "Schools
do notfail. They succeed. Childrenalwayslearn in school. Always and every day. When their rare and
tiny compositions are "rated holistically" without regard
for separate "aspects" like spelling, punctuation, capitalization,
or even organization, theylearn. They learn
that mistakes bring no consequences."

Afterword: Plus Ca Change "The
ideologues of educationism (fortunately for us, if we will pay thoughtful
attention) have so thoroughly given themselves to their disdain of
intellectual discipline that they always,and always
inadvertently, reveal some truth when they pretend to do the work
of the mind in writing."